Contents:

I regularly make announcements, clarifications, further instructions, etc.,
in class and by email and Learning Suite. You are responsible for all of these,
even if you do not attend class. You are also responsible for keeping your email up to date at my.byu.edu. (You should let me know if your email changes during the semester.)
I suggest that you exchange
phone numbers and/or e-mail addresses with other students in the class.

I will hold office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays 1:30-2:30 p.m.
I am also available at other times if you
make arrangements with me. I encourage you to come by to talk about
assignments in the class, suggestions for improving the class, politics and
current events, the perils of student life, or for any other reason.

The TA office is located in 122 SWKT. The names and contact information for each TA are listed above. Here are some guidelines for working with the TAs during office hours (many suggested by students in past course evaluations):

Come to the TAs with specific questions, having already worked on the problems.

Do not ask TAs to re-teach a missed lecture or lab. Instead, get a copy of the notes from another student, look at the slides, read the book, and then ask the TAs questions about things you do not understand.

Do not monopolize a TA's time (> 10 minutes) during office hours if there are other students waiting.

Do not ask TAs to explain the whole assignment.

Do not ask, "Is this answer right?" Instead, ask how to solve problems.

If you want to ask, "I don't know where to start this problem," do not ask that on Thursday morning.

This course explores the fundamental concepts of empirical analysis in
political science, with a heavy emphasis on
regression analysis. This course is designed to help you

Analyze political and social behavior using statistical skills.

Learn how to read and interpret statistical evidence.

Produce your own rigorous statistical arguments that you explain carefully and clearly.

As a result of its recent accreditation experience (and increasing emphasis
from the Department of Education to measure educational outcomes, e.g. NCLB),
each program at BYU has developed a set of expected student learning outcomes.
These will help you understand the objectives of the curriculum in the program,
including this class. In the parlance of the Political Science department's learning outcomes, this course helps you develop the skills of:

Be intellectually enlarged: Employ Rigorous Research Methods

Be intellectually enlarged: Write and Speak with Originality and Clarity

Be intellectually enlarged: Think Critically and Analytically about Politics

This course also fulfills the
General
Education Languages of Learning requirement. As noted in that requirement's
Foundation Document, this course prepares students "to use numerical tools to explain the world in quantitative terms,
interpret numerical data, and evaluate arguments that rely on quantitative information and
approaches (Aims of a BYU Education)." Students should be able to use the fundamental principles of and fluency in quantitative language as used in modern practical problem-solving situations. As a General Education course, this class also fulfills University Core Learning Outcomes:

Political Science 200 is a prerequisite for this course. Political Science 200 teaches basic
statistical concepts, as well as writing and research
techniques. This course builds on those concepts and assumes you know those techniques;
without the prerequisite, it will be difficult to succeed in this course.
If you have not taken Political Science 200, take this course after you have.
(You may not enroll concurrently in Political Science 200.)

A Chinese proverb (supposedly) says, "I hear
and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand."
This philosophy drives the requirements of the class.

Weekly Assignments

45%

Pre-class Quizzes

5%

Midterm Exam

15%

Final Exam

35%

All weekly assignments are due on Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. both on paper in the Political Science Assignment
Drop Box (located outside the entrance to the department office at 745 SWKT) and electronically on the Learning Suite.
If you have some sort of emergency, make sure you turn in your assignment
electronically (email it to the instructor if you need to), after which you will turn in a hard copy as soon as possible. Paper versions of the assignments must be
typed and separated into four different packets, as directed on
the assignment directions. Electronic versions of the assignment are also uploaded using
four separate documents.

I will not accept late assignments. Do not ask for exceptions.
The primary reason for no late assignments is so that we can discuss the
assignment in class immediately after it is turned in.

Since everyone has difficulties at one time or another, I will drop the one
lowest assignment for the semester. I strongly suggest that you do not plan to
drop an assignment. If you have a bad week, you would be better off turning in that
assignment partially completed than dropping that assignment. You will need to know
that material for the exams, so you will need to learn the material in the assignment
later if you miss. Every semester, students who have already dropped an assignment
early in the semester for convenience ask to drop another assignment later in the
semester because of a real problem out of their control, such as illness, car accident,
funeral, computer crash, fire alarm, etc. My answer is that I will drop the assignment
for the real problem, but not drop the assignment dropped earlier for convenience.

Weekly Assignments

To understand statistics, you must use statistics.
Each week you will be required to complete assignments that will include a variety of
activities ranging from statistical theory problems to analyzing data and interpreting
statistical results. Part of each assignment is explaining concepts and results to a
lay audience. Generally, weekly assignments will be posted on
Learning Suite after class on Thursday.
(We will record scores on assignments, pre-class quizzes, and exams in
Learning Suite as well.)

You may work together on these assignments in groups of two or at most three,
but you must write up your answers separately. The reason I limit group size is that
students have a greater opportunity to learn and understand the material when they work
in smaller groups. (Conversely, it is easier to mistakenly think you know the material
when you work in larger groups.)

I give much more detailed instructions
on how to report your work together in the Academic Honesty section below.
Generally, if you use other persons' work,
or make changes to your own work without inquiring or understanding what you did
incorrectly, then you are trying to get a grade using someone else's knowledge.
Giving or receiving answers in this manner is not permitted in this course.
If you do not learn how to analyze or solve problems on your own, you will have
difficulty on the exams. As a regular practice, on each problem, state with whom
you worked. If you worked alone, state that you worked alone.

Each of the assignments will be divided into four parts. For the paper version, you will need to staple each part separately one from another. You will need to turn in your assignments with precise identification information. Most
importantly, pay attention to the instructions at the beginning of each assignment. Your
name, Poli 328, course section, lab instructor name, assignment #, and part # should clearly be indicated at the top of each document. For example:
Your name
Political Science 328
Your section (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6)
Lab instructor: Cloud, Dorsey, etc.
Assignment #
Part #
Answers begin here...

At the end of each assignment, there is a survey that students take (in Qualtrics)
reporting the number of hours spent on each part of the assignment. You are also
awarded points for completing this survey.

Pre-class Quizzes

As much as possible, we will work on solving problems together in class. This requires
students to read the material before class. To encourage students to read before class,
there will be a quiz before each class on the reading material from Stock & Watson and
Agresti & Finlay covered in class. The quiz will usually consist of 5 multiple-choice questions
on Learning Suite. This is an open book quiz,
but you may not consult with anyone else on the quiz. You must finish the quiz by
1:30 p.m. I will drop the 3 lowest-scoring quizzes. You will have the opportunity to drop
2 more quizzes if you turn in the course evaluations (from BYU and from me) at the end
of the semester.

Exams

There is a midterm and final exam. For both exams, there is a take-home component and a Testing Center component.
The take-home component will require you to solve
problems similar to case studies in the weekly assignments, using any personal notes and public resources. The take-home component is taken home for a week, and is in place of the weekly assignment. (There is no class during the midterm or final exam.) The Testing Center component will require you to interpret statistical analysis generated by others and explain statistical concepts, using no notes. You are not allowed to consult with anyone on these exams.

Research Project

Unlike previous semesters of Political Science 328, we do not have a research project.

The course is graded on a modified curve, using statistical principles
that will be explained in more detail in the course. The basic idea is that
I will look for natural breaks between students and assign grades accordingly.
Thus, I do not assign a set number or percentage of As, Bs, and Cs.

Unlike many other classes at BYU, the points you receive do not correspond to percentage of the material learned, or to particular letter grades. In other words, a 75 (out of 100) does not mean that you understand 75% of the material, nor does it mean you have a C. It means you scored higher than anyone that received a 74 or lower, and scored lower than anyone that received a 76 or higher.

I will award the higher of two grades:

your overall point total

your point total doubling the weight of the final exam

To use #2, you must complete at least 10
of the 11 weekly assignments (Assignment 0
does not count), at least 22 of the 25 pre-class quizzes, and the midterm exam. (Note: Turning in a sheet of paper with your name on it is
not completing the assignment. Completing an assignment means working on each part of the assignment.) This allows students who take longer to get the material to still
do well in the class. However, if you do not work on the weekly assignments,
you will not do well on the final exam.

"The grade given in a course is the teacher's evaluation of the student's
performance, achievement, and understanding in that subject as covered
in the class. The following adjectives indicate the meaning of the letter
grades:

A

Excellent

B

Good

C

Satisfactory

D

Minimum passing

E

Unacceptable

"Hence, the grade A means that the student's performance, achievement, and
understanding were excellent in the portion of the subject covered in the
class.

"There are prerequisites that qualify students to be admitted to the more
advanced classes offered by a department. A senior has added experience,
understanding, and preparation and, consequently, progresses in courses
that would have been impossible when the student was a freshman. The level
of performance, achievement, and understanding required to qualify for
each grade that carries credit (any grade other than E, UW, I, IE, or WE)
is higher in a more advanced class than in those classes that precede it,
and the student is prepared to work at this higher level" (cite).

"The expectation for undergraduate courses is three hours of work per week
per credit hour for the average student who is appropriately prepared;
much more time may be required to achieve excellence" (cite).

Putting these statements together, the university expects
an "average student" to work "much more" than 12 hours a week
to receive an 'A' (= "excellence") in a 4 credit-hour course.
This is my expectation as well.

As in many other subjects, learning statistics requires that you are exposed to it multiple times. Do not expect to understand everything in the book the first time you read it. Do not expect to master the material after coming to a single lecture. It takes reading, hearing, and applying the material to grasp
the concepts.

Students who have succeeded in this course have the following characteristics. They

Read the material before coming to class.

Come to class with questions.

Do not text/email/Twitter/Facebook/etc. in class.

Study in groups to make sure they understand the material.

Spread work on the weekly assignments across the week.

Seek feedback from others.

At the end of the course, I ask students to fill out a survey about their experiences
in the class. One of the questions I ask is what advice they would give students who
are starting the course. Here are the most frequent responses:

The class is a lot of work, but you learn a lot.

Start on the assignments early, and distribute the work across the week.

We use this book because it is the least technical textbook that covers the material of the class. The 3rd edition has some improvements over the 2nd edition, and rearranges some of the material. You could probably get away with using a 2nd edition if you did not mind consulting a classmate's textbook when necessary. (You can also use the updated 3rd edition, published July 2014.) Do not use the 1st edition.
The book has a web site where
you can download data sets and replication files here:
Stock
and Watson Student Resources.

Students often ask me for a suggestion of what to read to get ready for 328, especially if it has been a while since they have taken 200. Gonick and Smith is the book I recommend. It reviews the material in 200, and previews some of the material in 328. It does so in an easily digestible format (cartoons), and it is a quick read (for a statistics book). It is also relatively cheap.

Students also ask me for a conceptual alternative to Stock and Watson. The Angrist and Pischke book covers much of the material of the class, with a stronger emphasis on causal inference.

In 328, we use the statistical program Stata extensively. The Baum book covers a lot of the same material as Stock and Watson, though it has less detail and explanation. However, it integrates the material on regression with how to run any particular model in Stata. The TA lab sessions will also explain how to implement different models in Stata, but if you want an independent source of information on how to use Stata in context of 328, this is an excellent book.

There will be other readings from Agresti and Finlay available through Learning Suite.

Identical classes will be presented at 1:35 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in 202 MSRB. We will also have in-class learning exercises. I will post slides before each class so that you may take notes on your copy of the slides. In addition, I actively encourage questions and comments germane to our discussion. I urge--indeed, I expect--you to take advantage of the chance to talk with the Teaching Assistants and me during office hours.

Regrettably, a handful of students occasionally demonstrate insensitivity to other students
and to instructors by disrupting classes unnecessarily. Arriving late for class, reading
newspapers in class, packing up bags prior to the end of class, and cell phone use are
all disruptive activities. Browsing the internet, checking email, and playing games on
laptops are also inappropriate in class because you should be listening and participating.

Certainly, taking notes on a laptop is appropriate, but do not waste your time or mine by
getting distracted by other activities on the web. Moreover, I will not tolerate incivility of
one opinion to another. It is exciting and healthy to exchange a diversity of opinions, but
in no case should anyone demean another because of his or her viewpoint. In a statistics
class, many concepts are difficult to grasp and student understanding is not uniform across
the class. If students ask questions that you feel others should already know, this should
never be cause for frustration or otherwise being impatient. You might find yourself on
the other end with a different concept. If you have any questions about what
classroom civility entails, please contact me.

On Friday mornings, there will be six computer labs in 102 SWKT
(first lab on the left in the FHSS Computer Center), and 112 SWKT (fishbowl at the back).
There are labs at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., and 11 a.m.,
and are assigned according
to registration. These labs are led by the Teaching Assistants. You should attend your
assigned lab each week. Please arrive in the Computer Lab before class starts to
sign in and have everything ready to go when class starts.

In the labs you will learn how to do basic and advanced
statistics in Stata. The Stock
and Watson website has a helpful tutorial here as well:
Stock
and Watson Stata tutorial.
Each week, the lab will cover the commands
necessary to do the weekly assignments. The labs will also go over previous weekly assignments and sample exam problems.

You may find it useful to
purchase
your own copy of Stata. If you
do not purchase your own copy, you need to plan ahead to use the computers
in SWKT. Since some data sets we use have more than 1200 observations,
you will need to purchase Stata/IC or Stata/SE.

Although our primary statistical program is Stata, you will also learn how to do
basic statistics and regression in R
to increase flexibility and marketability for future work opportunities.
We will use the GUI front-end RStudio. Both of these are
available in the SWKT computer labs, and available to install on your own
computer for free.

Early in the semester, the
FHSS Research Support Center
will hold Stata and R workshops. Attending the workshops will give you a good base to begin
your work with Stata (and R) this semester. The times and locations for the Stata workshops are:

January 12, 2-3p, 103 SWKT

January 12, 3:30-4:30p, 103 SWKT

January 15, 1:30-2:30p, 103 SWKT

January 19, 2-3p, 103 SWKT

(Each workshop is identical.) The times and locations of the R workshops are:

January 15, 10-11a, 103 SWKT

January 22, 10-11a, 103 SWKT

(Each workshop is identical.) The Research Support Center is another resource available
throughout the semester for any questions relating to Stata or statistical analysis or research.

From the Academic Honesty section of the BYU Honor Code:
"The first injunction of the BYU Honor Code is the call to `be honest.' Students come to the
university not only to improve their minds, gain knowledge, and develop skills that will assist
them in their life's work, but also to build character. `President David O. McKay taught that
character is the highest aim of education' (The Aims of a BYU Education, p. 6). It is the
purpose of the BYU Academic Honesty Policy to assist in fulfilling that aim."

"BYU students should seek to be totally honest in their dealings with others. They should
complete their own work and be evaluated based upon that work. They should avoid
academic dishonesty and misconduct in all its forms, including but not limited to plagiarism,
fabrication or falsification, cheating, and other academic misconduct"
(cite).
Read the full version
here.

A colleague (Mitch Sanders, former professor at Notre Dame)
has already explicated these issues specifically for political science. Please read
here.

In this class, you need to acknowledge the contributions of others toward your
assignments. I have taken the following guidelines from MIT's
Unified
Engineering class.
I have changed and added various words where appropriate:

"The fundamental principle of academic integrity is that you
must fairly represent the source of the intellectual content of the work
you submit for credit. In the context of [Poli 328], this means that
if you consult other sources (such as fellow students, TA's, faculty,
literature) in the process of completing homework [(or Stata codes)], you
must acknowledge the sources in any way that reflects true ownership
of the ideas and methods you used."

"Doing homework helps to engage with the concepts and material taught in class on a
deeper level. To enhance the learning process we strongly suggest that you first try to
solve the problems by yourself and then discuss challenges in groups or in office hours
if necessary. Discussion among students and in office hours to digest the material and
the homework problems or to prepare for [exams] is considered useful in
the educational process. COLLABORATION ON HOMEWORK IS ALLOWED UNLESS OTHERWISE
DIRECTED AS LONG AS ALL REFERENCES (BOTH LITERATURE AND PEOPLE)
USED ARE NAMED CLEARLY AT THE END OF THE ASSIGNMENT. Word-by-word
copies of someone else's solution or parts of a solution handed in for credit
will be considered cheating unless there is a reference to the source for
any part of the work which was copied verbatim. FAILURE TO CITE OTHER
STUDENT'S CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR HOMEWORK SOLUTION WILL BE
CONSIDERED CHEATING."

"Study Group Guidelines"

"Study groups are considered an educationally beneficial activity. However,
at the end of each problem on which you collaborated with other students you
must cite the students and the interaction. The purpose of this is to
acknowledge their contribution to your work. Some examples follow:

You discuss concepts, approaches and methods that could be
applied to a homework problem before either of you start your written
solution. This process is encouraged. You are not required to make a
written acknowledgment of this type of interaction.

After working on a problem independently, you compare answers
with another student, which confirms your solution. You must acknowledge
that the other student's solution was used to check your own.
No credit will be lost due to this comparison if the acknowledgment
is made.

After working on a problem independently, you compare answers
with another student, which alerts you to an error in your own work.
You must state at the end of the problem that you corrected your error
on the basis of checking answers with the other student. No credit will be
lost due to this comparison if the acknowledgment is made, and no
direct copying of the correct solution is involved.

You and another student work through a problem together, exchanging
ideas as the solution progresses. Each of you must state at the end of
the problem that you worked jointly. No credit will be lost due to this cooperation if the acknowledgment is made. [You must still write up your
solutions individually, not jointly.]

You copy all or part of a solution from a reference such as a textbook.
You must cite the reference. Partial credit will be given, since there is
some educational value in reading and understanding the solution.
However, this practice is strongly discouraged, and should be used only
when you are unable to solve the problem without assistance.

You copy verbatim all or part of a solution from another student.
This process is not considered academically dishonest if the acknowledgement is made. However, you will receive no credit for verbatim copying
from another student as you have not made any intellectual contribution
to the work you are both submitting for credit.

VERBATIM COPYING OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH YOU SUBMIT FOR CREDIT
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE SOURCE IS CONSIDERED TO BE ACADEMICALLY
DISHONEST."

Unfortunately, some students still profess ignorance of or
attempt to find loopholes in the previous guidelines.
As a result of
sad experience, I repeat the following guidelines and add clarifications:

You may work together on the weekly assignments in groups of two or at most three,
but you must write up your answers separately. Starting with a group document and then
giving copies of that document to members of the group is not writing up answers
separately, even if individuals make various changes to the original document. You must
start with separate, individual answers.
If you find yourself emailing or copying files having to do
with weekly assignments, you are violating this policy. If a group is
working on a single computer to conduct analyses, which are then recorded and shared,
then the group is violating this policy. If you work together on one
computer, then you need to wait until you have separate computers to write up your
answers. The first time I
see group work turned in as individual work (even with "worked with" citations), I will
take the number of points earned and divide it by the number of people in the group.
The next time, the penalty will be -100% (note: not 0, but -100%).

There is a "student solutions manuals" for Stock and Watson, 3rd ed. that has answers
to odd-numbered exercises. You may use it provided you follow
the citation guidelines discussed above (for which you only get partial credit). As with most
textbooks, there is an "instructor solutions manual." (It has answers to all problems.)
You may not use this. Like most things, you can find a copy of it on the internet,
perhaps by sending money by PayPal to something equivalent to an essay mill, or
downloading from some BitTorrent site, etc. If you find yourself searching for
something like "Stock and Watson instructor solution manual," then you are well on
your way to violating the Honor Code. If you have used this, I will refer you to
the Honor Code Office.

A good shorthand for violating the Honor Code is knowing something is wrong and doing
it anyway. Anytime I find a student attempting to deceive me in any way, I will refer that
student to the Honor Code Office.

If you have any questions about these guidelines, please ask me. Do not attempt to
exploit loopholes.

I have placed an example of how to write up homework, including examples of citing
work with others, on
Learning
Suite.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds. The act is intended to eliminate sex discrimination in education. Title IX covers discrimination in programs, admissions, activities, and student to student sexual harassment. BYU's policy against sexual harassment extends not only to employees of the university but to students as well. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender based discrimination, please talk to your professor; contact the Equal Employment Office at 422-5895 or 367-5689 (24 hours); or contact the Honor Code Office at 422-2847.

Brigham Young University is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability which may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the University Accessibility Center (2170 WSC, 422-2767). Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the SSD office. If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Equal Employment Office at 422-5895, D-282 ASB.